Chart of Primary and Protected Forests

Almost three quarters of Earth's remaining primary forests are in just ten countries. In addition to the countries shown in the above chart, there are only 0.46 million sq km in Indonesia, 0.45 in Venezuela, 0.36 in Bolivia, and 0.33 in Mexico.

A large proportion of these forests occurs in contiguous blocks (500 sq. km or greater). Of these, 50% occur in polar regions, 46% in equatorial areas and 3% in warm temperate climatic zones.
10 to 25% of Earth’s remaining primary forest occurs in blocks that are smaller than 500 sq. km. These smaller areas of are of particular conservation significance in regions that are extensively cleared or fragmented. They function as refuges, intact ecosystems and sources of propagation for restoration.

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Sources

UNFAO Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015
www.fao.org/forest-resources-assessment/past-assessments/fra-2015/en/
Policy Options for the World’s Primary Forests, Mackey, et. al.;
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/conl.12120

Tags: forest, biomes, ecology, deforestation, primary forest, old growth forest, primary and protected forests, global-ecology